Q: What has been your educational journey?
A: I am in my 18th year of teaching. I taught 15 years in Texas and am in my third year here in Lakota.
I received my bachelor’s at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. I plan to begin my masters within the year.
Q: Why did you become a teacher?
A: In college, I couldn’t decide on a major. I jumped around from accounting to interior design to computer programming. I had always enjoyed being around children and worked well with them. A friend of mine suggested that I should go into teaching. I decided to enroll in education classes. I loved the classes and felt that I had finally found my major.
Q: What do you enjoy most about teaching?
A: The thing that I enjoy most is seeing the reaction on my students’ faces when they understand how to complete a skill they previously were unable to do and felt very frustrated by. I love when a student who has previously had great difficulty just being in the classroom due to significant behavior challenges learns to self-regulate his/her behavior, makes friendships and gains the ability to participate in the classroom like a typical student.
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing teachers today?
A: I think today’s teachers face many challenges. Teachers struggle with guiding students to be self-motivated, independent learners.
I think the biggest challenge facing teachers today is time. Teachers are required to balance the time needed to accomplish the required aspects of their job such as planning lessons, grades, general paperwork, attending meetings, and communicating with parents and staff. They must continue growing their knowledge of an always-changing curriculum and develop inventive ways to present it to students, all the while integrating technology into the classroom and finding new ways to meet the needs of every student from those who are struggling to gifted learners.
Q: What is your teaching philosophy?
A: My philosophy is simple. I believe all students can learn and achieve to their fullest potential. It can be academic or behavior based. We should celebrate the successes, even small ones, and guide students through their mistakes to learn to make better choices the next time.
Q: What is a favorite memory from your teaching career?
A: I don’t have one specific favorite memory but many small ones. For example, taking a student to the zoo for his first time ever at age 13, helping a student that is blind go through a bouncy house and experience a variety of textures for the first time, or watching a student read an entire book independently for the first time at the age of 10.
Some of my most special moments are teaching students to resolve conflicts with peers appropriately, apologize to teachers and adults without prompting when they did something wrong, and helping them to be better students and ultimately better people.
Q: What are ways you have gotten involved in the school district?
A: I am currently a mentor teacher for two intervention specialists in the district. Also, I am participating in the Leadership Academy for future administrators and am a curriculum partner assisting with the implementation of the new core curriculum.
Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: I enjoy spending time with my family. I have five children so they keep me pretty busy. We enjoy going to Kings Island, rafting, snow tubing, swimming and just hanging out together. I also enjoy reading and crafting.
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